IFMBE Officers Meet in Tallinn
The
officers of the IFMBE, i.e. the President, Past President, President-Elect,
Secretary-General and Treasurer, meet once a year prior to the ordinary meeting
of the Administrative Council (AC). This year, the officers met in Tallinn,
Estonia, shortly in advance of the 12th Nordic-Baltic Conference. The Treasurer,
Mladen Poluta, was unfortunately unable to attend, Instead, he submitted a
comprehensive letter and was in telephone contact with his fellow officers over
the course of the meeting. Prof. Niilo Saranummi was also invited to attend the
meeting to provide information on and discuss matters concerning the IUPESM.
The officers' meeting is important in order to prepare for the ordinary meeting of the AC and hold discussions on important matters concerning the Federation and its relations with its international members and other organisations like the IUPESM.
One of the main issues discussed at the officers' meeting is that of the budget. Generally speaking, the years between meetings of the General Assembly (GA) are financially quite similar, which means that the budget rarely contains extraordinary items, such as the transfer of the Secretary's and Treasurer's offices last year. IFMBE income comes from three main sources: 1) the Journal, 2) membership fees and 3) conferences. Unfortunately, there are often problems in collecting membership fees and, sometimes, payments from conferences. The income from the Journal depends on the surplus the publisher makes. The officers therefore once again discussed how to promote the Journal. It was decided, for example, to create promotional material for both the IFMBE and the Journal that can be used in conferences and meetings. This, we hope, can be done in co-operation with the publisher.
One issue that has been discussed several times lately is that of Cellular Engineering (CE). The Federation fully supports this very current area of bioengineering and intends developing it further. One interesting question is the choice of title. Tissue Engineering or Cellular and Tissue Engineering are just some of the names that have been used. For the time being, IFMBE uses the name Cellular Engineering, although the Working Group for CE will discuss whether this name should be changed.
The International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) is a top-level organisation that counts various national scientific academies and several international scientific unions among its members. The IUPESM is currently trying to gain full membership of this organisation. If its bid is successful, biomedical engineering and medical physics will receive international recognition as sciences. This autumn sees the meeting of the General Assembly of the ICSU - an important date for the IUPESM, which is currently trying to win support for its membership from as many national scientific members and international member unions as possible. IUPESM president Prof. Keith Body and IFMBE President-Elect Prof. Dov Jaron will represent the organisation at the Cairo meeting. Before that, most of the IFMBE national member societies will get a request this summer to help establish links with national science academies and ask them to support IUPESM membership.
There is little less than one year left before the next World Congress takes place in Chicago. The officers discussed preparations for the meeting of the GA to be held during the Congress. The Nomination Committee was asked to check for vacancies in the AC and in the IFMBE Divisions. Nominations for IUPESM Awards of Merit were also discussed. The number of nominations from IFMBE members was not as high last time, which has led to a call for nominations being made as soon as possible.
The officers also recognised the need to improve co-operation and co-ordination between the IFMBE and the organisers of conferences that are co-sponsored or endorsed by the IFMBE in some way. It was decided to appoint for each regional conference a liaison officer who will maintain continuous contact with the organisers. He or she shall explain what type of sponsorship is possible and how to obtain it. The importance of arranging for promotion of the Journal and the activities of the IFMBE was also noted.
One of the last items discussed was the Federation's website. It has now moved from Amsterdam to Sweden, and the address is "http://www.ifmbe.org". To quote from Mladen Poluta's submission to the officers' meeting: "Without reflecting in any way on those responsible for the current website, I suggest that it needs a facelift". This was unanimously agreed upon, and one plan is to have a working group responsible for ensuring that this facelift is carried out. In the meantime, please feel free to send me your suggestions for changes and improvements.
I believe that the meeting was an effective one. Email may be a fast means of communication, but it cannot (yet) replace meetings, where it is possible to exchange thoughts and discuss more freely.
Heikki Terio
Secretary-General
Email: Heikki.Terio@mta.hs.sll.se